Could These Food Products Act as a Natural Ozempic?

Our intestinal microbiobics do everything. They accelerate our digestion; They shape our mood; And they form our immune systems. They even replace our cells – or at least, their by -products, because recent research reveals that microbial metabolites which are left by the digestion of tryptophan amino acid could restore the cells producing hormones in our intestines.

Reported in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences,, The results show that these hormone-producing cells are reduced in people with obesity, perhaps contributing to metabolic conditions related to obesity. But research also suggests that these reductions could be reversed thanks to the intestinal microbiome, creating a possibility of future treatments or therapies for metabolic conditions (and for possible alternatives to drugs like Ozempic).

“Our results suggest that microbial metabolites derived from food tryptophan can reverse reductions associated with obesity in intestinal cells secreting hormones,” said Alip Borthakur, study author and assistant teacher of biomedical sciences at Marshall University in Virginia-Western, in a press release. “This indicates a potential therapeutic strategy that exploits intestinal microbes to improve metabolic results in obesity.”

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The power of microbial metabolites

Tryptophan – The food amino acid that is in turkey (and less famous in other poultry and meats, as well as in dairy products, eggs, nuts and seeds) – helps your body produce hormones like melatonin and serotonin, which have an impact on your sleep, your mood and your appetite.

But the new study suggests that tryptophan can play a more important role in your metabolism that was previously thought of, because its microbial metabolites (essentially, its by-products after being broken down by your intestinal microbiome) could be used to restore hormone producing cells in your intestines called enteroendocrine cells or EEC.

Since these cells generally produce glucagon type peptide-1, or GLP-1 hormones, which control your insulin production and your appetite, the absence of these cells could contribute to resistance to insulin, increased appetite and poor metabolic health.

Testing tryptophan metabolites

To unravel these connections, the authors of the new study turned to a combination of models of rats and human intestinal organized, or “mini-boots”, designed to imitate “the architecture and complexity of composition of the native human intestine”, said Borthakur in the press release.

Inducting obesity in rats and then estimating their CEEs, the researchers found that obesity is linked to a drop of around 60% of EECs in the intestines. Meanwhile, by treating mini-boots with tryptophan metabolites, then considering their EECs, they found that the by-products of amino acid are associated with an increase of approximately 100% of EECS, which means that these metabolites could restore hormone cells in the intestine, and therefore their production of GLP-1 hormones.

Find out more: Ozempic side effects and other GLP-1s can prevail over the advantages

An alternative to Ozempic?

Overall, the results show that tryptophan metabolites are a promising path to improve metabolic health in people with obesity and metabolic conditions related to obesity, although future tests and clinical trials are certainly necessary to confirm their beneficial effects.

Of course, GLP-1 hormones may seem familiar because they are the model for GLP-1 agonists like Ozempic. By imitating natural hormone, these artificial hormones control insulin production and appetite and promote weight loss.

It is therefore possible that all treatments or therapies derived from tryptophan metabolites could represent an alternative to ozempques and other GLP-1 agonists in the future-which could naturally improve metabolic health, and not by creating an artificial GLP-1 hormone, but by creating more cells that produce GLP-1 in first.

This article does not offer medical advice and should be used for information purposes only.

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